Serial Killers: Science of the Lambs

What makes a serial killer? What drives them to kill again and again? To find out the truth about this ghastly lot, we talked to

What makes a serial killer? What drives them to kill again and again? To find out the truth about this ghastly lot, we talked to forensic psychologist Prof. Eric Hickey, criminologist Ass. Prof. Wayne Petherick, and psychiatrist Prof. Gwen Adshead.

Check out the full transcript here.

Note: in this episode we discuss homicide, and sexual violence. Please take care when listening to the show, and here are some resources:
National Mental Health Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
National Hotline for Crime Victims 1-855-4-VICTIM (1-855-484-2846)
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)

Selected readings:

• Dr. Mike Aamodt’s database of serial killers  at Radford University
• This study looked at more than 1000 juvenile offenders to find out what was different about those who became killers  
• All sorts of statistics for some of the common behaviors of serial killers
• This paper digs into some of the more unusual “ritualistic” behavior of serial killers 

Credits: 
This Episode has been produced by Shruti Ravindran, Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler and Wendy Zukerman. Our senior producer is Kaitlyn Sawrey. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Additional editing help from Alex Blumberg. Fact Checking by Michelle Harris. Music by Bobby Lord and Emma Munger. Sound Design and mix by Emma Munger. A big thanks to all of the other academics who helped us out, including Dr. Mike Aamodt, Dr. Ann Burgess, Dr. Scott Lilienfeld, Dr. Devon Polaschek, Dr. Kori Ryan, Dr. Kim Rossmo, Dr. David Finkelhor, Dr. David Keatley, Dr. Jennifer Lansford, Dr. Karen Franklin, Dr. Michael Maltz, Dr. Gabrielle Salfati, Dr. Claire Ferguson, Dr. Sandra Taylor, and Katherine Ramsland. Extra thanks to Sarah McVeigh, Christopher Suter, Frank Lopez, Rose Reid, the Zukerman Family, and Joseph Lavelle Wilson, and everyone at Gimlet who listened and gave thoughts.

There are a lot of fads, blogs and strong opinions, but then there’s SCIENCE. Science Vs is the show from Gimlet Media that finds out what’s fact, what’s not, and what’s somewhere in between. We do the hard work of sifting through all the science so you don't have to. This season we tackle alcohol, fasting diets, DNA tests, race and the fertility cliff.